The Other Matsuri
by Ryth76
Summary: Matsuri meets another Matsuri while waiting for Gaara. Some GaaMatsu. One-shot.


_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and I do not profit from this.

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**A/N: Forgive the crappiness of this story. It was originally written on a private blog back when my computer was dead. I mean plot-wise it's crappy. I did look it over for grammar, spelling, and mechanical errors. If I missed anything, just PM me and I'll see about fixing it. Do not review me about it though, because I wouldn't be able to remove the review or say that I fixed it.**

**Yes, Kishimoto uses some names more than once. There is a Matsuri in Konoha and a Matsuri in Suna. Konoha's Matsuri is the girl with the dreadlocks from the scene where the Third talks to the academy students. Every one knows Suna's Matsuri. However, for the record, she is a canon character. It's just her origins and relationship with Gaara as his student that's filler.  
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**The Other Matsuri**

It was a quiet, dull day in Sunagakure. Matsuri sighed miserably as she sat in the shade, leaning against the training pole she had first practiced her _jyouhyou _skills on as she watched the empty blue skies. She wondered if Gaara was sick. He had never been late. Perhaps what had happened with the Shiitenshounen had affected him?

She waited another minute before standing. Perhaps it was a test. Maybe he was in the shadows, waiting for her to take things into her own hands. But how? What was the key? Matsuri thought carefully. Perhaps Gaara wanted her to learn not to dawdle when waiting for him and go over what she knew. She turned to face the pole and attacked. The jyouhyou wrapped around the pole tightly.

She heard footsteps behind her. Definitely not Gaara's footsteps. Gaara never ran unless there was trouble and his gourd made his entire body weighty so his footsteps sounded deceptively heavy and loud. These footsteps were too fast and too light. Matsuri heard a voice behind her. "Ah! Someone's already here!"

Definitely not Gaara. The fifteen-year-old turned around to face the newcomer. It was a girl of about ten years, or maybe eleven, with what looked like dreadlocks tied back with a headband. Matsuri gaped at the newcomer. "Um, can I help you?"

"Huh? No, I'm fine," the girl replied, lifting a hand to decline. She smiled shyly. "I'm Matsuri. My family moved to Suna just now to help our alliance. I just started going to the Academy here. I came here to train."

Suna no Matsuri slowly smiled. "It's nice to meet you. My name is Matsuri."

"We have the same name!" Konoha no Matsuri giggled. She said suddenly, "Why don't we train together, Matsuri? I mean, there's three poles here..."

Matsuri shifted. Suddenly this meeting was getting a little awkward. She knew a lot of people were scared of her sensei. What if he was to appear right now? She imagined Konoha's Matsuri shaking in terror as Gaara appeared. "Uh... I'm sorry, but my sensei said he would be here any minute. There's another training ground West of here, if you want to try there."

The little girl looked disappointed. "Oh... Okay."

She walked away crestfallen. Suna no Matsuri felt bad, but she honestly felt relieved. She didn't really care what this Matsuri would feel around Gaara. She just wanted to repay Gaara for saving her life, even if it had been his duty. She would never admit that to his face though.

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Konoha no Matsuri blinked. Again? She stared at the redheaded young man of about thirteen sitting next to one of the poles. He looked very rigid and forbidding with dull, glaring pale blue eyes and strange rings around his eyes. Somehow he looked very cross and annoyed. The small girl gulped. There was no way she was going to ask to use these poles.

To her horror, she heard herself squeak out: "Um, ex... Excuse me?"

The scary young man turned his head to look at her. Matsuri's knees knocked together. "Um... Ah... That is... um... Is there another training ground I can practice at?"

The boy was quiet for a moment. His voice was even and darkly calm when he spoke. "There's a training ground East of here."

Somehow, he didn't seem quite as terrible after speaking. Konoha no Matsuri regained her courage. "Um... there's a girl already there. She told me she's waiting for her sensei."

"Ah." Had he expected her to say something like that? Matsuri blinked. What was with this guy? The young man stood up. "She should figure out she went to the wrong grounds in a moment."

On cue, there was the sound of someone running, puffing loudly. The Sand's Matsuri panted as she ran up to them. "I'm so sorry, Gaara-sensei! I got confused…"

The boy of about fourteen looked even less scary as his lips curled into a small smile. "Don't worry about it, Matsuri." He gave her a peck on the cheek and she gave him a simpering smile of complete adoration before snuggling up to him.

Konoha's Matsuri grinned weakly. "I guess I'll go to the other training grounds now…" She crept away before she could see any more surprise displays of affection from the odd teacher and student. Years later, after fighting giant snakes and centipedes and freaks of nature, she wrote in her memoirs that it was still the most disturbing thing she'd ever seen.

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**A/N: People don't seem to realize that Matsuri is actually older than Gaara... According to the data given by Kishimoto, she was seventeen during the Rescue Gaara arc, when Gaara was fifteen. Gaara taught an older girl. Lol. Thus her age of fifteen when she's Gaara's student. And yes, there are two girls called Matsuri in the Naruto world.**

**For the record, I'm not anti-GaaMatsu. I'm neutral. Konoha's Matsuri just hates public displays of affection a lot, especially between people she finds scary and teacher-students. I'm all for public displays of affection.**


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